Mary Helen MacKillop was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on 15 January 1842. When baptised six weeks later she received the names Maria Ellen. Her father, Alexander, was educated in Rome for the priesthood but, at the age of 29, left just before his ordination. He decided to migrate to Australia and arrived in Sydney on the Brilliant in 1838. Her mother, Flora MacDonald, left Scotland and arrived in Melbourne in 1840.
They were married in Melbourne on 14 July 1840 and eventually had seven children. Margaret (Maggie) 1843-1872, John 1845-1867, Annie 1848-1929, Lexie (Alexandrina) 1850-1882, Donald 1853-1925, Alick who died only 11 months old and Peter 1857-1878. Donald would later become a Jesuit Priest and work among the Aborigines in the Northern Territory and Lexie became a Nun.
Mary, the eldest of their children, was educated at private schools and by her father. She had her First Communion on 15 August 1850 at the unusual early age of 9. In February 1851 Alexander MacKillop left his family behind, after having mortgaged the farm and their livelihood, and made a trip to Scotland lasting some 17 months. Throughout his life he was a loving father and husband but never able to make a success of his farm. He was even worse as a politician or at any kind of job. During most of the times the family had to survive on the small wages the children were able to bring home.
Mary started work at the age of fourteen as a clerk in Melbourne and later as a teacher in Portland. To provide for her needy family Mary took up a job as governess in 1860 at her Aunt and Uncle's place at **Penola** in South Australia. She was to look after their children and teach them. Already set on helping the poor whenever possible, she included the other farm children on the Cameron estate as well. This brought her into contact with Father Julian Edmund Tenison **Woods**, who had been the parish priest in the South East since his ordination to the priesthood, after having completed his studies at **Sevenhill**, in 1857.
Woods had been very concerned about the lack of education and particularly Catholic education in South Australia. When he started his school he was soon appointed Director of Education and became the founder, with Mary, of the Sisters of St Joseph who would teach in his schools.
Mary stayed for two years with the Camerons of Penola before accepting a job teaching the Cameron children of Portland, Victoria. Later she taught at the Portland school and after opening her own boarding school, Bayview House, was joined by the rest of her family. While teaching at Portland, Father Woods invited Mary and her sisters Annie and Lexie to come to Penola and open a Catholic school there. In 1866 a school was opened in a stable and after renovations by their brother, the MacKillops started teaching more than fifty children.
In 1867 Mary became the first Sister, and Mother Superior, of the newly formed Order of the Sisters of St Joseph and moved to the new convent in Grote Street Adelaide. Dedicated to the education of the children of the poor, it was the first religious order to be founded by an Australian. The rules written up by Father Woods and Mary for the Sisters to live by were; An emphasis on poverty, a dependence on Divine Providence, no ownership of personal belongings as God would provide and the Sisters would go wherever they were needed. The rules were approved by Bishop Sheil. By the end of 1867 ten other Sisters had joined the Josephites.
In an attempt to provide education to all the poor, particularly in country areas, a school was opened at **Yankalilla** in October 1867. By the end of 1869 more than seventy Sisters were educating children at twenty-one schools in Adelaide and the country. Mary and her Josephites were also involved with an orphanage, neglected children, girls in danger, the aged poor, in **Johnstown** near Kapunda a reformatory, a home for the aged and incurably ill. Generally, the Sisters were prepared to follow farmers, railway workers and miners into the isolated outback and live as they lived. They shared the same hardships whilst educating their children.
In December 1869 Mary and several other Sisters travelled to Brisbane to establish the Order in Queensland. Two years later she was in Port Augusta for the same purpose. In 1871 they also established a school in **Burra**. During this eventful year, Mary was wrongly excommunicated by Bishop Sheil, who was against most of the things she had fought for, on the grounds that 'she had incited the sisters to disobedience and defiance'. Shortly before his death, Sheil instructed Fr Hughes on 23 February 1872 to lift the censure on Sister Mary. He met her on her way to Willunga and absolved her in the **Morphett Vale** Church. Later, an Episcopal Commission completely exonerated her. After the acquisition of the Mother House at Kensington in 1872, Mary made preparations to leave for Rome to have the Rules of the Sisters of St Joseph officially approved. While in Europe, Mary visited as many schools as possible to observe the latest teaching methods.
When she returned in January 1875, after an absence of nearly two years, she brought approval from Rome for her Sisters and the work they did, materials for her school, books for the convent library, several priests and most of all fifteen new Josephites from Ireland. Regardless of her success, she still had to content with the opposition of priests and several bishops. This did not change after her unanimous election as Mother General of the Josephites. Life was still hard and held many disappointments for her.
Notwithstanding all the trouble the Order did expand. By 1877 it operated more than forty schools in and around Adelaide, with many others in Queensland and New South Wales. With the help from Dr Benson, Barr Smith, the **Baker** family, Emmanuel Solomon and other non-Catholics the Josephites, with Mother Mary as their leader and Superior-General, were able to continue the Religious and other good works, including visiting prisoners in gaol.
After the appointment of Archbishop Vaughan of Sydney in 1877 life became a little easier for Mary and her Sisters. Until his death in 1882 Father Joseph **Tappeiner** had given Mary his solid support and until 1883 she also had support of Bishop Reynolds of Adelaide. However, after the death of Vaughan, Adelaide Bishop Reynolds had only one aim and that was to destroy Mary and the Josephites. If that could not be done he would at least try to bring them under his control. Reynolds was successful in exiling Mary and her removal as Superior-General but in no way did he succeed in crushing her, her Sisters or the Josephites and bring them under his control.
Although still living by begging, the Sisters had been very successful. In South Australia they had schools in many country towns including, **Willunga**, Willochra, Yarcowie, **Mintaro**, Auburn, **Jamestown**, **Laura**, **Sevenhill**, **Quorn**, Spalding, **Georgetown**, **Robe**, **Pekina****Appila** and several others. Mary MacKillop continued her work for the Josephites in Sydney and tried to provide as much support as possible for those in South Australia. In 1883 the Order was successfully established in New Zealand, where Mary stayed for three years, and in 1889 in Victoria.
During all these years Mary assisted Mother Bernard with the management of the Sisters of St Joseph. She wrote letters of support, advice and encouragement or just to keep in touch. By 1896 Mary was back in South Australia visiting Sisters in Port Augusta, **Burra**, **Pekina**, **Kapunda**, **Jamestown** and **Gladstone**. That same year she travelled again to New Zealand to establish the Sisters, and a school, on the South Island. In 1897 Bishop Maher of Port Augusta arranged for the Sisters of St Joseph to take charge of the St Anacletus Catholic Day School at Petersburg.
After the death of Mother Bernard, Mary was once more elected unopposed as Mother Superior-General, a position she held until her own death. During the later years of her life she had many problems with her health which continued to deteriorate. She suffered from rheumatism and after a stroke in New Zealand in 1902, became paralysed on her right side. For seven, years she had to rely on a wheelchair to move around but her speech and mind were as good as ever. Even after suffering the stroke the Sisters had enough confidence in her to re-elect her in 1905.
Mother Mary MacKillop died on 8 August 1909 and was laid to rest at the Gore Hill Cemetery, a few kilometres up the Pacific Highway from North Sydney. After her burial people continuously took earth from around her grave and as a result her remains were exhumed and transferred, on 27 January 1914, to a vault before the altar of the Mother of God in the newly build Memorial Chapel in Mount Street Sydney. The vault was a gift of Joanna Barr Smith a lifelong friend and admiring Presbyterian. After her death, the Sisters of St Joseph continued with the education program and in 1911 opened a new school at **Terowie**.
Nearly a hundred years after the death of Mary MacKillop, the Sisters are still working in many towns in South Australia, including **Aldgate** in the Adelaide Hills. They bought Pirralilla in 1950, which was originally build in 1902 by Michael Hawker. The property has been used as a convent and spiritual retreat centre. It includes a 30 room dormitory and chapel.
Just over a century after her passing, today may mark the day for the announcement of the canonisation of Mother Mary MacKillop to sainthood.
Pope Benedict XVI is expected to announce Mary MacKillop as Australia's first saint after a meeting in the Vatican City later today, just after 8:30pm ACDST.
Mary MacKillop's second miracle, helping an Australian woman recover from an inoperable cancer, was acknowledged recently, with her first miracle of curing a woman with leukemia recognised by the church in January of 1995.
Born in Melbourne in January of 1842, Mary MacKillop is best known to South Australians for her work with children and the needy after she worked in Penola as a governess to her uncle's children in the late 1850s.
After meeting Father Julian Tenison Woods,
Mary MacKillop began working with Father Woods to provide religious education to outback children.
In 1866, she opened St Joseph's School in Penola and with the help of other young women formed the congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph.
In 1867, by request of Bishop Shiel, Mary moved to Adelaide to open another school, and soon took charge of an orphanage and founded a house of refuge and house of providence for women in need.
Sainthood has been sought (after) for Mary MacKillop for several decades, with the first application for beatification made in 1961.
MacKillop, Mary Helen (1842–1909) Mary Helen MacKillop (1842-1909), known in life as Mother Mary of the Cross, was born on 15 January 1842 in Fitzroy, Melbourne, the eldest of eight children of Alexander McKillop and his wife Flora, née McDonald. Her parents had migrated from the Lochaber area in Inverness-shire and married soon after they reached Melbourne. After a prosperous start the family became impoverished. Mary was educated at private schools but chiefly by her father who had studied for the priesthood at Rome. To help her family Mary became in turn a shopgirl, a governess, and at Portland a teacher in the Catholic Denominational School and proprietress of a small boarding school for girls. As she grew to womanhood Mary was probably influenced by an early friend of the family, Father Patrick Geoghegan, and began to yearn for a strictly penitential form of religious life. Concluding she would have to go to Europe to execute her plan, she placed herself under the direction of Father Julian Tenison-Woods who, as parish priest of Penola in South Australia sometimes visiting Melbourne and Portland, wanted to found a religious society, 'The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart'; they were to live in poverty and dedicate themselves to educating poor children. With Mary its first member and Superior the society was founded at Penola on 19 March 1866 with the approval of Bishop Laurence Sheil. By then she was spelling her surname MacKillop. The Sisterhood spread to Adelaide and other parts of South Australia, and increased rapidly in membership but ran into difficulties. Tenison-Woods had become director of Catholic schools and conflicted with some of the clergy over educational matters. One priest with influence over the bishop declared publicly he would ruin the director through the Sisterhood. The result was that Mary was excommunicated by Bishop Sheil on 22 September 1871 for alleged insubordination; most of the schools were closed and the Sisterhood almost disbanded. The excommunication was removed on 21 February 1872 by order of the bishop nine days before he died. In 1873 at Rome Mary obtained papal approval of the Sisterhood but the Rule of Life laid down by Tenison-Woods and sanctioned by the bishop on 17 December 1868 was discarded and another drawn up. Tenison-Woods blamed her for not doing enough to have his Rule accepted and this caused a permanent breach between them. She travelled widely in Europe visiting schools and observing methods of teaching, and returned to Adelaide on 4 January 1875. In March she was elected Superior-General of the Sisterhood. In journeys throughout Australasia she established schools, convents and charitable institutions but came into conflict with those bishops who preferred diocesan control of the Sisterhood rather than central control from Adelaide. In 1883 Bishop Christopher Reynolds, misunderstanding the extent of his jurisdiction over the Sisterhood, told her to leave his diocese. She then transferred the headquarters of the Sisterhood to Sydney. On 11 May 1901 she suffered a stroke at Rotorua, New Zealand. Although retaining her mental faculties, she was an invalid until she died in Sydney on 8 August 1909. Mary's finest feature was her large blue eyes. Affectionate but determined, her virtues were multitudinous with charity towards her neighbour outshining all. Always regarded as holy, she was put forward in 1972 as a candidate for the honour of beatification and canonisation and on 1 February 1973 the Cause was formally introduced. Mary was beatified on 19 Januaray 1995 at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, in a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II. She was canonised as Saint Mary of the Cross at a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI in St Peter's Square in the Vatican on 17 October 2010.
Who was Mary MacKillop?
Mary Helen MacKillop was a Roman Catholic nun born in Australia on January 15, 1842 – the eldest of eight – to Scottish Catholic immigrants. The family lived in a modest house on Brunswick St, Fitzroy in Melbourne. Mary’s childhood was somewhat unsettled – her father, Alexander MacKillop was an unsuccessful businessman who frequently dragged the family into debt, and Mary became increasingly responsible for her young siblings. By 14, she was the sole breadwinner, working as a clerk for Sands and Kennedy Stationers in Melbourne. What did she do?
After meeting her “spiritual director” Fr Julian Woods, Mary tapped a deep longing to assist and educate the poor. Following a teaching stint in Portland, Vic, Mary, her sisters Annie and Lexie and Fr Woods founded a Catholic school in Penola, SA. In 1867, Mary became the first Australian nun to set up an order – the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, known as “Josephites”. By 1871, 130 sisters were working in more than 40 schools and charitable organisations across South Australia and Queensland, with expansions into NSW and NZ occurring in later years. Mary MacKillop died in 1909. Today the Sisters of St Joseph still work in many towns in South Australia. What is canonization?
A person can be declared a saint via formal canonization. The process involves a lengthy investigation of the person’s life, which is summarized into a report and handed to the bishop of the area. After more research, the report is shipped off to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.
Two important posthumous miracles are required to be formally declared a saint, which can only be done by the Pope.
According to marymackillop.org.au, the church doesn’t make a saint, it recognises a saint. “Canonisation is the act by which the Holy Father declares in a definitive and solemn way that a Catholic Christian is actually in the glory of heaven, intercedes for us before the Lord and is to be publicly venerated by the whole Church.” In his book Making Saints: How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn’t and Why Kenneth Woodward wrote:
“A saint is always someone through whom we catch a glimpse of what God is like – and of what we are called to be. Only God ‘makes’ saints, of course. The church merely identifies from time to time a few of these for emulation.” How did Mary MacKillop qualify to become a saint?
The wheels were set in motion for Mary to become a saint in 1925, but it wasn’t until the early 90s that her intersession to God was considered responsible for the recovery of a dying woman in 1961 (miracle number one). In December 2009, a papal decree (a type of letter put forward by a pope) was issued to endorse miracle number two – the complete cure of an Australian woman with lung and brain cancers. Mary will become Australia’s first saint on October 17, 2010. Up to 8000 pilgrims are expected to attend the mass at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome where Pope Benedict will name her Saint Mary of the Cross. What’s the significance of Australia’s first saint? For Catholics Mary, already esteemed, will become an example of how to live a compassionate, courageous life underpinned by God’s love. Don’t go calling her “our Mary” though – last week the Government announced it will protect the use of Mary MacKillop’s name via the Corporations Regulations Act, disallowing companies to call themselves names that include “Mary MacKillop”, “Saint MacKillop” and “Our Mary”, depending on circumstances.
Research Proposal
Background
The Year 12 Research Project is a good platform for me to explore my skills in research and learn new ideas and gain information about various topics. From the day that I was enrolled into research project, I started thinking about the various topics I could research on. The ideas that I thought of were vast. Then finally towards the end of week 1 I decided on my topic. The topic I decided on is- Did Mary Mackillop deserved to be a saint. The supporting questions were what did she do that led her to sainthood? Why did it take more than 100 years after her death for the canonization to take place? , What is her story and what was her lifestyle (history)? What are the processes for Canonization? Do people know who Mary Mackillop is? With the support of these questions my main topic question will be answered.
Reason for the Choice
There are many reasons that lead me to choose this topic. I was grown up in a very religious family. Most of the people I knew were very religious too. When I was young, my family used to teach me that being considered as a saint by the church is the top of everything. So since I heard this from my family I wondered how people lead their life to sainthood. I was taught about this in church and religious programs but I still need to know more information about it. So I thought this is the perfect opportunity for me to research and gather information about this topic.
Research Processes
There are many ways that I could get the resources from. Getting information on Mary Mackillop would be really easy because she was an Australian Woman and she lived some of her life in Penola which is in South Australia. So I might be able to visit that place and collect primary resources. There had been many books written about her life and the challenges she faced. So this is one way of getting authentic information. Using the web would be another idea because I would be able to find many varieties of articles on the web. Therefore using the web will be one of my main ways to gather resources and information. Surveys could also be done to help me answer my main topic question which is DID MARY MACKILLOP DESERVED TO BE SAINT? Interviews with priests and nuns will be done to confirm that the information that I received from other resources are accurate. Given below is a timeline that I will refer to during this semester to complete the required tasks on time and with more planning.
Timeline
WEEK
PLANNED TASK
COMMENTS
Week 1
Choose Topic
Mary Mackillop
Week 2
Collect web resources
15-20 web resources completed
Week 3
Gather other types of resources
Collected books from the library, talked to experts.
Week 4
Read the articles and identify the key findings
The articles were studied and identified main findings.
Week 5
Consider on Ethical issues
Ethical issues were taken into consideration, also watched a movie that explains the ethical issues that could rise during the project.
Week 6
Analyse the information
This week I am a little behind my proposed schedule but will try to catch up. Still finding more and more authentic information.
Week 7
Analyse information
This week I started analyzing the information and annotating them.
Week 8
Analyse information
This week I cross referenced the articles in order to show that the information obtained is correct.
Week 9
Do surveys and interview.
This week surveys were done and they were analyzed and interviews were done.
Week 10
Start on the Outcome
The outcome was started with the narration done by an expert in this religious field. He is a parish priest in the Salisbury catholic parish. I planned to do a multimodal presentation
Week 11
Continue with the outcome.
Go through the outcome video and do any corrections if need so.
Week 12
Evaluation and summary
This week, I am a little behind the schedule because according to the proposed schedule the outcome should have finished by now but it hasn’t . I am still working on my outcome.
Week 13
Evaluation and summary
This week I started by evaluation and summary. Did a planning and started on it.
Week 14
Evaluation and summary
This week also I continued with the evaluation.
Week 15
Go through all the work and correct anything that needed correcting
Checked all my work to see everything is correct
Week 16
Arrange all my work together
Arranged all my work and organized and put it into a folder for marking.
Ethical Issues
Because my topic is fairly sensitive I had to take good care of ethics that could rise when doing the project. Especially with the survey and the interviews when I worded them I had to take good care so the words that I use wouldn’t hurt anyone in any way. I think I can definitely manage the research with this topic. The topic I chose is valid and is a recent topic, so I also think the information that I get will be trustable and new.
Chosen capability
My chosen capability is citizenship. By doing a research on a famous religious person I can show the understanding of Australia’s cultural, linguistic, social and religious diversity. Also when I do surveys and interviews I become involved in and I could contribute much to the community. Mary Mackillop is a very important person to most Australians. So when I did my surveys I found out that some people still don’t know who Mary is so I tried to tell them more about Mary which helped me share my knowledge with the community.
Letter to Mr. T
Hi Mr. Tengdahl, I am Arun Parakadan. I am writing this letter to tell you more about my plans for Research Project in the holidays. The finalized topic of my research is Mary Mackillop (the saint). I have already done my Research Proposal and the journal. The topic questions, I have decided on are:
Did Mary Mackillop deserve to be a saint?
What did she do that led her to sainthood? Why did it take more than 100 years after her death for the canonization? What is her story and what was her lifestyle (history)? What are the processes for Canonisation? Do people know who Mary Mackillop is?
In the coming holidays I will collect background information and get at least 15 to 20 website or other resources. Also I will try to visit any places that I can get information from and talk to experts like church people, priests and nuns. I will ask them about places where I can visit to get information and to know more about Mary Mackillop.
Thank you Arun Parakadan.
This is the journal for the subject.. It tells all the things that i did for this subject.
Journal for Year 12 Research Project
Journal Entries- Week 9, Term 2
This week was basically an introductory week. The teacher explained the whole subject. He talked about the three main parts, the folio, outcome and the evaluation. The teacher also told us to decide on our topics. At first I was very confused with my topic selection. I thought about a lot of topics for research. They were Death sentence, Movies, Homework and Online Gaming Addiction. Finally I decided on Movies and the influence on community. The teacher told us to do Research proposals which was due on Monday week 2. The topic question and the guiding questions will be listed in my Research proposal.
Week 10, Term 2
I didn’t complete my research proposal over the weekend because I still wanted to change my topic. Then I came up with the idea to research on Mary Mackillop who is Australia’s first saint. I also made a decision to not change my topic anymore. I didn’t hand up the new proposal but I handed it up on Tuesday. This Wednesday the teacher gave me feedbacks on my research proposal. He gave me comments on how to improve my proposal and he told us to collect 15-20 preliminary web resources. I also made a plan with all the things that I will do for RP during the holidays. I wrote a letter to the teacher saying all the things I will do to get a head start for the subject.
Week 1, Term 3
During the holidays I did many things so I could get a head start on my project. As I stated in the letter that I wrote to Mr. Tengdahl, I talked to 2 experts about my topic and my topic question. I asked them about how vast the topic is and also asked them if it is easy to get information on the topic. The first person I talked to was the Parish priest of Salisbury. I asked him whether he could give me an interview later in the term and he agreed to it. The next person I talked to was one of the nuns at the Mary Mackillop centre in Kensington. Also they invited me to visit the Mary Mackillop centre in Kensington. In the first week back I started my research and borrowed books from the school library and public library. I thought getting the information as soon as possible would be good because when I finish my folio I could straightaway get into my outcome. I decided to make a power point or a video.
Week 2, Term 3
This week I didn’t do anything new but still continued with the research and reading books in class. So i can analyse and annotate the information next week.
Week 3, Term 3
This week the teacher showed us a video on ethical consideration that we have to look at when we research, especially when conducting surveys and interviews. He told us that we need to get the teacher to check our surveys and interview questions before we take it to the public. We also had to take notes on the video that we watched. I believe that this video was very useful and it helped me a lot with my considerations about the ethical issues that could rise in my research. The topic that I have chosen is a very sensitive topic because the topic is a bit religious. So I wrote a list of ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS that I have to make when I research and I had to base this on my topic. Also I figured out the key findings of my research. 1. Finish your list of ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS for your project, based on your notes taken from the ethics video. Base this on YOUR PROJECT.. what ethical issues could come up in your particular line of research?2. Outline what KEY FINDINGS are have identified at this point. Maybe you have answered a couple of your support questions or have identified some important sources. The reason for this is: To get an A grade you need to be identifying key findings AS THEY EMERGE. This task lets you do that. STUDENTS WHO ARE USING SURVEYS/INTERVIEWS: You must show me your survey or interview questions BEFORE you conduct your surveys or interviews. This is to ensure you are following the correct ethical practices.
Week 4, Term 3
This week was mainly analyzing the information that I got from my research and annotating them. Also in the double lesson we shared to the class about how much progress we have made and the key findings. This was an opportunity to know where others are and increase the pace of work if we need to. My peers gave me new ideas and information which was very helpful.
I have classified the URL's into different categories.
Preliminary Resources
What is her story and what was her lifestyle (history)?How was her family background like?
Arun Parakadan, Year 12 Research Project Wikipage
Mary Helen MacKillop was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on 15 January 1842. When baptised six weeks later she received the names Maria Ellen. Her father, Alexander, was educated in Rome for the priesthood but, at the age of 29, left just before his ordination. He decided to migrate to Australia and arrived in Sydney on the Brilliant in 1838. Her mother, Flora MacDonald, left Scotland and arrived in Melbourne in 1840.
They were married in Melbourne on 14 July 1840 and eventually had seven children. Margaret (Maggie) 1843-1872, John 1845-1867, Annie 1848-1929, Lexie (Alexandrina) 1850-1882, Donald 1853-1925, Alick who died only 11 months old and Peter 1857-1878. Donald would later become a Jesuit Priest and work among the Aborigines in the Northern Territory and Lexie became a Nun.
Mary, the eldest of their children, was educated at private schools and by her father. She had her First Communion on 15 August 1850 at the unusual early age of 9. In February 1851 Alexander MacKillop left his family behind, after having mortgaged the farm and their livelihood, and made a trip to Scotland lasting some 17 months. Throughout his life he was a loving father and husband but never able to make a success of his farm. He was even worse as a politician or at any kind of job. During most of the times the family had to survive on the small wages the children were able to bring home.
Mary started work at the age of fourteen as a clerk in Melbourne and later as a teacher in Portland. To provide for her needy family Mary took up a job as governess in 1860 at her Aunt and Uncle's place at **Penola** in South Australia. She was to look after their children and teach them. Already set on helping the poor whenever possible, she included the other farm children on the Cameron estate as well. This brought her into contact with Father Julian Edmund Tenison **Woods**, who had been the parish priest in the South East since his ordination to the priesthood, after having completed his studies at **Sevenhill**, in 1857.
Woods had been very concerned about the lack of education and particularly Catholic education in South Australia. When he started his school he was soon appointed Director of Education and became the founder, with Mary, of the Sisters of St Joseph who would teach in his schools.
Mary stayed for two years with the Camerons of Penola before accepting a job teaching the Cameron children of Portland, Victoria. Later she taught at the Portland school and after opening her own boarding school, Bayview House, was joined by the rest of her family. While teaching at Portland, Father Woods invited Mary and her sisters Annie and Lexie to come to Penola and open a Catholic school there. In 1866 a school was opened in a stable and after renovations by their brother, the MacKillops started teaching more than fifty children.
In 1867 Mary became the first Sister, and Mother Superior, of the newly formed Order of the Sisters of St Joseph and moved to the new convent in Grote Street Adelaide. Dedicated to the education of the children of the poor, it was the first religious order to be founded by an Australian. The rules written up by Father Woods and Mary for the Sisters to live by were; An emphasis on poverty, a dependence on Divine Providence, no ownership of personal belongings as God would provide and the Sisters would go wherever they were needed. The rules were approved by Bishop Sheil. By the end of 1867 ten other Sisters had joined the Josephites.
In an attempt to provide education to all the poor, particularly in country areas, a school was opened at **Yankalilla** in October 1867. By the end of 1869 more than seventy Sisters were educating children at twenty-one schools in Adelaide and the country. Mary and her Josephites were also involved with an orphanage, neglected children, girls in danger, the aged poor, in **Johnstown** near Kapunda a reformatory, a home for the aged and incurably ill. Generally, the Sisters were prepared to follow farmers, railway workers and miners into the isolated outback and live as they lived. They shared the same hardships whilst educating their children.
In December 1869 Mary and several other Sisters travelled to Brisbane to establish the Order in Queensland. Two years later she was in Port Augusta for the same purpose. In 1871 they also established a school in **Burra**. During this eventful year, Mary was wrongly excommunicated by Bishop Sheil, who was against most of the things she had fought for, on the grounds that 'she had incited the sisters to disobedience and defiance'. Shortly before his death, Sheil instructed Fr Hughes on 23 February 1872 to lift the censure on Sister Mary. He met her on her way to Willunga and absolved her in the **Morphett Vale** Church. Later, an Episcopal Commission completely exonerated her. After the acquisition of the Mother House at Kensington in 1872, Mary made preparations to leave for Rome to have the Rules of the Sisters of St Joseph officially approved. While in Europe, Mary visited as many schools as possible to observe the latest teaching methods.
When she returned in January 1875, after an absence of nearly two years, she brought approval from Rome for her Sisters and the work they did, materials for her school, books for the convent library, several priests and most of all fifteen new Josephites from Ireland. Regardless of her success, she still had to content with the opposition of priests and several bishops. This did not change after her unanimous election as Mother General of the Josephites. Life was still hard and held many disappointments for her.
Notwithstanding all the trouble the Order did expand. By 1877 it operated more than forty schools in and around Adelaide, with many others in Queensland and New South Wales. With the help from Dr Benson, Barr Smith, the **Baker** family, Emmanuel Solomon and other non-Catholics the Josephites, with Mother Mary as their leader and Superior-General, were able to continue the Religious and other good works, including visiting prisoners in gaol.
After the appointment of Archbishop Vaughan of Sydney in 1877 life became a little easier for Mary and her Sisters. Until his death in 1882 Father Joseph **Tappeiner** had given Mary his solid support and until 1883 she also had support of Bishop Reynolds of Adelaide. However, after the death of Vaughan, Adelaide Bishop Reynolds had only one aim and that was to destroy Mary and the Josephites. If that could not be done he would at least try to bring them under his control. Reynolds was successful in exiling Mary and her removal as Superior-General but in no way did he succeed in crushing her, her Sisters or the Josephites and bring them under his control.
Although still living by begging, the Sisters had been very successful. In South Australia they had schools in many country towns including, **Willunga**, Willochra, Yarcowie, **Mintaro**, Auburn, **Jamestown**, **Laura**, **Sevenhill**, **Quorn**, Spalding, **Georgetown**, **Robe**, **Pekina****Appila** and several others. Mary MacKillop continued her work for the Josephites in Sydney and tried to provide as much support as possible for those in South Australia. In 1883 the Order was successfully established in New Zealand, where Mary stayed for three years, and in 1889 in Victoria.
During all these years Mary assisted Mother Bernard with the management of the Sisters of St Joseph. She wrote letters of support, advice and encouragement or just to keep in touch. By 1896 Mary was back in South Australia visiting Sisters in Port Augusta, **Burra**, **Pekina**, **Kapunda**, **Jamestown** and **Gladstone**. That same year she travelled again to New Zealand to establish the Sisters, and a school, on the South Island. In 1897 Bishop Maher of Port Augusta arranged for the Sisters of St Joseph to take charge of the St Anacletus Catholic Day School at Petersburg.
After the death of Mother Bernard, Mary was once more elected unopposed as Mother Superior-General, a position she held until her own death. During the later years of her life she had many problems with her health which continued to deteriorate. She suffered from rheumatism and after a stroke in New Zealand in 1902, became paralysed on her right side. For seven, years she had to rely on a wheelchair to move around but her speech and mind were as good as ever. Even after suffering the stroke the Sisters had enough confidence in her to re-elect her in 1905.
Mother Mary MacKillop died on 8 August 1909 and was laid to rest at the Gore Hill Cemetery, a few kilometres up the Pacific Highway from North Sydney. After her burial people continuously took earth from around her grave and as a result her remains were exhumed and transferred, on 27 January 1914, to a vault before the altar of the Mother of God in the newly build Memorial Chapel in Mount Street Sydney. The vault was a gift of Joanna Barr Smith a lifelong friend and admiring Presbyterian. After her death, the Sisters of St Joseph continued with the education program and in 1911 opened a new school at **Terowie**.
Nearly a hundred years after the death of Mary MacKillop, the Sisters are still working in many towns in South Australia, including **Aldgate** in the Adelaide Hills. They bought Pirralilla in 1950, which was originally build in 1902 by Michael Hawker. The property has been used as a convent and spiritual retreat centre. It includes a 30 room dormitory and chapel.
Just over a century after her passing, today may mark the day for the announcement of the canonisation of Mother Mary MacKillop to sainthood.
Pope Benedict XVI is expected to announce Mary MacKillop as Australia's first saint after a meeting in the Vatican City later today, just after 8:30pm ACDST.
Mary MacKillop's second miracle, helping an Australian woman recover from an inoperable cancer, was acknowledged recently, with her first miracle of curing a woman with leukemia recognised by the church in January of 1995.
Born in Melbourne in January of 1842, Mary MacKillop is best known to South Australians for her work with children and the needy after she worked in Penola as a governess to her uncle's children in the late 1850s.
After meeting Father Julian Tenison Woods,
Mary MacKillop began working with Father Woods to provide religious education to outback children.
In 1866, she opened St Joseph's School in Penola and with the help of other young women formed the congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph.
In 1867, by request of Bishop Shiel, Mary moved to Adelaide to open another school, and soon took charge of an orphanage and founded a house of refuge and house of providence for women in need.
Sainthood has been sought (after) for Mary MacKillop for several decades, with the first application for beatification made in 1961.
MacKillop, Mary Helen (1842–1909)
Mary Helen MacKillop (1842-1909), known in life as Mother Mary of the Cross, was born on 15 January 1842 in Fitzroy, Melbourne, the eldest of eight children of Alexander McKillop and his wife Flora, née McDonald. Her parents had migrated from the Lochaber area in Inverness-shire and married soon after they reached Melbourne. After a prosperous start the family became impoverished.
Mary was educated at private schools but chiefly by her father who had studied for the priesthood at Rome. To help her family Mary became in turn a shopgirl, a governess, and at Portland a teacher in the Catholic Denominational School and proprietress of a small boarding school for girls. As she grew to womanhood Mary was probably influenced by an early friend of the family, Father Patrick Geoghegan, and began to yearn for a strictly penitential form of religious life. Concluding she would have to go to Europe to execute her plan, she placed herself under the direction of Father Julian Tenison-Woods who, as parish priest of Penola in South Australia sometimes visiting Melbourne and Portland, wanted to found a religious society, 'The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart'; they were to live in poverty and dedicate themselves to educating poor children. With Mary its first member and Superior the society was founded at Penola on 19 March 1866 with the approval of Bishop Laurence Sheil. By then she was spelling her surname MacKillop. The Sisterhood spread to Adelaide and other parts of South Australia, and increased rapidly in membership but ran into difficulties. Tenison-Woods had become director of Catholic schools and conflicted with some of the clergy over educational matters. One priest with influence over the bishop declared publicly he would ruin the director through the Sisterhood. The result was that Mary was excommunicated by Bishop Sheil on 22 September 1871 for alleged insubordination; most of the schools were closed and the Sisterhood almost disbanded. The excommunication was removed on 21 February 1872 by order of the bishop nine days before he died.
In 1873 at Rome Mary obtained papal approval of the Sisterhood but the Rule of Life laid down by Tenison-Woods and sanctioned by the bishop on 17 December 1868 was discarded and another drawn up. Tenison-Woods blamed her for not doing enough to have his Rule accepted and this caused a permanent breach between them. She travelled widely in Europe visiting schools and observing methods of teaching, and returned to Adelaide on 4 January 1875. In March she was elected Superior-General of the Sisterhood. In journeys throughout Australasia she established schools, convents and charitable institutions but came into conflict with those bishops who preferred diocesan control of the Sisterhood rather than central control from Adelaide. In 1883 Bishop Christopher Reynolds, misunderstanding the extent of his jurisdiction over the Sisterhood, told her to leave his diocese. She then transferred the headquarters of the Sisterhood to Sydney. On 11 May 1901 she suffered a stroke at Rotorua, New Zealand. Although retaining her mental faculties, she was an invalid until she died in Sydney on 8 August 1909.
Mary's finest feature was her large blue eyes. Affectionate but determined, her virtues were multitudinous with charity towards her neighbour outshining all. Always regarded as holy, she was put forward in 1972 as a candidate for the honour of beatification and canonisation and on 1 February 1973 the Cause was formally introduced. Mary was beatified on 19 Januaray 1995 at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, in a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II. She was canonised as Saint Mary of the Cross at a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI in St Peter's Square in the Vatican on 17 October 2010.
Who was Mary MacKillop?
Mary Helen MacKillop was a Roman Catholic nun born in Australia on January 15, 1842 – the eldest of eight – to Scottish Catholic immigrants. The family lived in a modest house on Brunswick St, Fitzroy in Melbourne. Mary’s childhood was somewhat unsettled – her father, Alexander MacKillop was an unsuccessful businessman who frequently dragged the family into debt, and Mary became increasingly responsible for her young siblings. By 14, she was the sole breadwinner, working as a clerk for Sands and Kennedy Stationers in Melbourne.
What did she do?
After meeting her “spiritual director” Fr Julian Woods, Mary tapped a deep longing to assist and educate the poor. Following a teaching stint in Portland, Vic, Mary, her sisters Annie and Lexie and Fr Woods founded a Catholic school in Penola, SA.
In 1867, Mary became the first Australian nun to set up an order – the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, known as “Josephites”. By 1871, 130 sisters were working in more than 40 schools and charitable organisations across South Australia and Queensland, with expansions into NSW and NZ occurring in later years. Mary MacKillop died in 1909. Today the Sisters of St Joseph still work in many towns in South Australia.
What is canonization?
A person can be declared a saint via formal canonization. The process involves a lengthy investigation of the person’s life, which is summarized into a report and handed to the bishop of the area. After more research, the report is shipped off to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.
Two important posthumous miracles are required to be formally declared a saint, which can only be done by the Pope.
According to marymackillop.org.au, the church doesn’t make a saint, it recognises a saint. “Canonisation is the act by which the Holy Father declares in a definitive and solemn way that a Catholic Christian is actually in the glory of heaven, intercedes for us before the Lord and is to be publicly venerated by the whole Church.” In his book Making Saints: How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn’t and Why Kenneth Woodward wrote:
“A saint is always someone through whom we catch a glimpse of what God is like – and of what we are called to be. Only God ‘makes’ saints, of course. The church merely identifies from time to time a few of these for emulation.”
How did Mary MacKillop qualify to become a saint?
The wheels were set in motion for Mary to become a saint in 1925, but it wasn’t until the early 90s that her intersession to God was considered responsible for the recovery of a dying woman in 1961 (miracle number one). In December 2009, a papal decree (a type of letter put forward by a pope) was issued to endorse miracle number two – the complete cure of an Australian woman with lung and brain cancers. Mary will become Australia’s first saint on October 17, 2010. Up to 8000 pilgrims are expected to attend the mass at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome where Pope Benedict will name her Saint Mary of the Cross.
What’s the significance of Australia’s first saint?
For Catholics Mary, already esteemed, will become an example of how to live a compassionate, courageous life underpinned by God’s love. Don’t go calling her “our Mary” though – last week the Government announced it will protect the use of Mary MacKillop’s name via the Corporations Regulations Act, disallowing companies to call themselves names that include “Mary MacKillop”, “Saint MacKillop” and “Our Mary”, depending on circumstances.
Research Proposal
Background
The Year 12 Research Project is a good platform for me to explore my skills in research and learn new ideas and gain information about various topics. From the day that I was enrolled into research project, I started thinking about the various topics I could research on. The ideas that I thought of were vast. Then finally towards the end of week 1 I decided on my topic. The topic I decided on is- Did Mary Mackillop deserved to be a saint. The supporting questions were what did she do that led her to sainthood? Why did it take more than 100 years after her death for the canonization to take place? , What is her story and what was her lifestyle (history)? What are the processes for Canonization? Do people know who Mary Mackillop is? With the support of these questions my main topic question will be answered.
Reason for the Choice
There are many reasons that lead me to choose this topic. I was grown up in a very religious family. Most of the people I knew were very religious too. When I was young, my family used to teach me that being considered as a saint by the church is the top of everything. So since I heard this from my family I wondered how people lead their life to sainthood. I was taught about this in church and religious programs but I still need to know more information about it. So I thought this is the perfect opportunity for me to research and gather information about this topic.
Research Processes
There are many ways that I could get the resources from. Getting information on Mary Mackillop would be really easy because she was an Australian Woman and she lived some of her life in Penola which is in South Australia. So I might be able to visit that place and collect primary resources. There had been many books written about her life and the challenges she faced. So this is one way of getting authentic information. Using the web would be another idea because I would be able to find many varieties of articles on the web. Therefore using the web will be one of my main ways to gather resources and information. Surveys could also be done to help me answer my main topic question which is DID MARY MACKILLOP DESERVED TO BE SAINT? Interviews with priests and nuns will be done to confirm that the information that I received from other resources are accurate. Given below is a timeline that I will refer to during this semester to complete the required tasks on time and with more planning.
Timeline
Ethical Issues
Because my topic is fairly sensitive I had to take good care of ethics that could rise when doing the project. Especially with the survey and the interviews when I worded them I had to take good care so the words that I use wouldn’t hurt anyone in any way. I think I can definitely manage the research with this topic. The topic I chose is valid and is a recent topic, so I also think the information that I get will be trustable and new.
Chosen capability
My chosen capability is citizenship. By doing a research on a famous religious person I can show the understanding of Australia’s cultural, linguistic, social and religious diversity. Also when I do surveys and interviews I become involved in and I could contribute much to the community. Mary Mackillop is a very important person to most Australians. So when I did my surveys I found out that some people still don’t know who Mary is so I tried to tell them more about Mary which helped me share my knowledge with the community.
Letter to Mr. T
Hi Mr. Tengdahl,
I am Arun Parakadan. I am writing this letter to tell you more about my plans for Research Project in the holidays.
The finalized topic of my research is Mary Mackillop (the saint). I have already done my Research Proposal and the journal. The topic questions, I have decided on are:
Did Mary Mackillop deserve to be a saint?
What did she do that led her to sainthood?Why did it take more than 100 years after her death for the canonization?
What is her story and what was her lifestyle (history)?
What are the processes for Canonisation?
Do people know who Mary Mackillop is?
In the coming holidays I will collect background information and get at least 15 to 20 website or other resources. Also I will try to visit any places that I can get information from and talk to experts like church people, priests and nuns. I will ask them about places where I can visit to get information and to know more about Mary Mackillop.
Thank you
Arun Parakadan.
This is the journal for the subject.. It tells all the things that i did for this subject.
Journal for Year 12 Research Project
Journal Entries- Week 9, Term 2
This week was basically an introductory week. The teacher explained the whole subject. He talked about the three main parts, the folio, outcome and the evaluation. The teacher also told us to decide on our topics. At first I was very confused with my topic selection. I thought about a lot of topics for research. They were Death sentence, Movies, Homework and Online Gaming Addiction. Finally I decided on Movies and the influence on community. The teacher told us to do Research proposals which was due on Monday week 2. The topic question and the guiding questions will be listed in my Research proposal.
Week 10, Term 2
I didn’t complete my research proposal over the weekend because I still wanted to change my topic. Then I came up with the idea to research on Mary Mackillop who is Australia’s first saint. I also made a decision to not change my topic anymore. I didn’t hand up the new proposal but I handed it up on Tuesday. This Wednesday the teacher gave me feedbacks on my research proposal. He gave me comments on how to improve my proposal and he told us to collect 15-20 preliminary web resources. I also made a plan with all the things that I will do for RP during the holidays. I wrote a letter to the teacher saying all the things I will do to get a head start for the subject.
Week 1, Term 3
During the holidays I did many things so I could get a head start on my project. As I stated in the letter that I wrote to Mr. Tengdahl, I talked to 2 experts about my topic and my topic question. I asked them about how vast the topic is and also asked them if it is easy to get information on the topic. The first person I talked to was the Parish priest of Salisbury. I asked him whether he could give me an interview later in the term and he agreed to it. The next person I talked to was one of the nuns at the Mary Mackillop centre in Kensington. Also they invited me to visit the Mary Mackillop centre in Kensington. In the first week back I started my research and borrowed books from the school library and public library. I thought getting the information as soon as possible would be good because when I finish my folio I could straightaway get into my outcome. I decided to make a power point or a video.
Week 2, Term 3
This week I didn’t do anything new but still continued with the research and reading books in class. So i can analyse and annotate the information next week.
Week 3, Term 3
This week the teacher showed us a video on ethical consideration that we have to look at when we research, especially when conducting surveys and interviews. He told us that we need to get the teacher to check our surveys and interview questions before we take it to the public. We also had to take notes on the video that we watched. I believe that this video was very useful and it helped me a lot with my considerations about the ethical issues that could rise in my research. The topic that I have chosen is a very sensitive topic because the topic is a bit religious. So I wrote a list of ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS that I have to make when I research and I had to base this on my topic. Also I figured out the key findings of my research. 1. Finish your list of ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS for your project, based on your notes taken from the ethics video. Base this on YOUR PROJECT.. what ethical issues could come up in your particular line of research?2. Outline what KEY FINDINGS are have identified at this point. Maybe you have answered a couple of your support questions or have identified some important sources. The reason for this is: To get an A grade you need to be identifying key findings AS THEY EMERGE. This task lets you do that. STUDENTS WHO ARE USING SURVEYS/INTERVIEWS: You must show me your survey or interview questions BEFORE you conduct your surveys or interviews. This is to ensure you are following the correct ethical practices.
Week 4, Term 3
This week was mainly analyzing the information that I got from my research and annotating them. Also in the double lesson we shared to the class about how much progress we have made and the key findings. This was an opportunity to know where others are and increase the pace of work if we need to. My peers gave me new ideas and information which was very helpful.
I have classified the URL's into different categories.
Preliminary Resources
What is her story and what was her lifestyle (history)?How was her family background like?
Search word = Mary Mackillop
http://www.marymackillop.org.au/marys-story/beginnings.cfm accessed on 17th July 2011.
http://www.marymackillop.org.au/marys-story/growth.cfmaccessed on 17th July 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_MacKillopaccessed on 17th July 2011.
http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/mackillop.htmaccessed on 17th July 2011.
http://www.marymackillopplace.org.au/museum/education_resources.aspaccessed on 17th July 2011.
http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/page.php?pg=prayer-marymckillopaccessed on 17th July 2011.
http://www.sosj.org.au/who-we-are/index.cfm?loadref=105 accessed on 17th July 2011.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mackillop-mary-helen-4112accessed on 17th July 2011.
What did she do that led her to sainthood?
Did Mary Mackillop deserve to be a saint?
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/02/19/2824357.htm accessed on 18th July 2011.
http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2646754.htm accessed on 18th July 2011.
http://www.mamamia.com.au/news/mary-m/ accessed on 18th July 2011.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/17/mary-mackillop-first-australian-saint-canonized_n_765815.html accessed on 18th July 2011.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/the-miracles-that-put-mary-mackillop-on-the-path-to-sainthood/story-e6frf7l6-1225812199236 accessed on 18th July 2011.
Mary Mackillop Quotes and Interesting Information.
http://precioustreasures.com.au/blog/?p=88 accessed on 18th July 2011.
http://www.marymackillop.org.au/legacy/view_newsarticle.cfm?loadref=145&id=567 on 23. 08. 2011
http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=W1lmLyFzdkIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=mary+mackillop&ots=FtndRyHFvc&sig=FP6kp5eJHO9VBQJd18pSGy3iKXY#v=onepage&q&f=false on 24. 08. 2011